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Emanuel Bus Lines owner Jeffrey Emanuel is asking the court to terminate the Dallas School District's contract with G. Davis Inc. and give it back to his company.

A local bus company denied a new contract by the Dallas school board is going to court to try to get it back from a competitor.

Jeffrey Emanuel, owner of Dallas-based Emanuel Bus Lines, filed an injunction in Luzerne County court Thursday to terminate the Dallas School District's contract with Pike County-based G. Davis Inc. and award it back to Emanuel.

The board voted at a May 23 special meeting to award the five-year contract to G. Davis Inc., which plans to supply the district with 22 brand-new propane-powered buses, as well as drivers.

Previously, the board had opted during the May 6 work session to award the contract to G. Davis, but when residents and parents protested, the board allowed the two companies to resubmit proposals.

G. Davis filed an injunction in Luzerne County Court to make the board execute the contract, but county Judge Lesa S. Gelb allowed the hearing to be postponed until after the May 23 meeting.

Dallas Superintendent Frank Galicki said district officials had not yet seen the injunction.

According to the suit:

Emanuel, exclusive provider of bus services to the district for 66 years, most recently had a five-year contract with the district that terminated June 30, 2013.

Instead of negotiating, the district told Emanuel the bus transportation contract would be put out for bid.

G. Davis and Emanuel were the only bidders. Davis' initial bid was $83,000 lower than Emanuel's. When the board allowed the bids to be resubmitted, Emanuel's revised bid was $22,720 lower than Davis' bid.

But because Davis would provide new buses, a state grant of approximately $30,000 caused the total savings to be more from Davis than from Emanuel.

"Emanuel pledged to provide six new school buses, but the board never considered the potential grant money from these buses," the suit states.

The lawsuit also notes that Emanuel's revised bid included a run to West Side Career and Technology Center, which Davis' did not. The request for proposals made no mention of either.

Because the amount of the grant is speculative - representatives of the district and Davis often changed the amount - and wouldn't become effective until 2015, the Dallas School District went beyond the scope of the request for proposals, to Emanuel's detriment.

"Taking the grant money out of the equation makes Emanuel the lowest responsible bidder and, therefore, Emanuel is entitled to be awarded the contract," the document states.

It notes that awarding the contract to Davis caused "irreparable harm" to Emanuel, which will "literally be forced to go out of business," meaning it would no longer be a taxpaying entity within the school district.

"One minute the grant money is $30,000, the next minute it's $40,000. We believe that's highly speculative," Emanuel's attorney Jonathan Comitz said. "If you're going to take into account speculation on grant money, you should also take into consideration the loss of revenue if Emanuel goes out of business."

Comitz said the issue which should be at the forefront is that Emanuel was the lowest bidder and performed a service for the Dallas community for more than 60 years.

eskrapits@citizensvoice.com, 570-821-2072

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